They've always liked Howson, AIUI. They were sad to see him go to Columbus and quickly snatched him back up when he was canned.

This move is really curious...it seems like nothing will change really...it's believed that Kevin Lowe is still pulling the strings in Edmonton, like Bobby Clarke in Philadelphia somewhat. The Oilers really needed - in my opinion - a fresh look at this thing. Instead, they're just rotating recyclables here...Tambo needed to go, but this is a curious move...decent timing, but I'm not sure this is the right choice. Seems like a lot of smoke and mirrors to me at first glance...

I don't know, Tambellini has taken a pretty cautious approach to that teams development and I can hardly say he deserves to get fired. He's drafted well (not hard), signed Shultz, and generally not messed anything up yet. I guess its just a matter of Lowe and Co nut trusting him from here out to tinker with the team and build it into a championship caliber one.

MacTavish sounds like he's going to go big, probably used Shero as an example in his interview... It is a big offseason, with a stocked draft, compliance buyouts, and the best UFA crop in a while. So I can see why they think this is the year to aim high.